There are two issues in the latest episode of the culture wars, sparked by the Anzac Day Facebook comment by controversial young Muslim activist and part-time ABC presenter Yassmin Abdel-Magied. One is…

Until 1992, being a gay or lesbian soldier was illegal in Australia. New research is unearthing the heartbreaking stories of people who devoted their lives to the military but were discharged when their sexuality was exposed.

Part of a black cotton cushion cover depicting the Australian coat of arms embroidered by Lance Corporal Alfred Briggs (Albert Biggs), 20 Battalion, AIF.
Courtesy of Australian War MemorialApril 24, 2017

Embroidery - often seen as women's work - was a common form of therapy for troops wounded in the first world war. One soldier, Albert Biggs, learned to sew with his left hand after his right arm was badly injured.

Australians are deeply attached to the cluster of beliefs and traditions we call the ‘Anzac legend’.
ShutterstockApril 24, 2017

When commemorating our troops, doctors and nurses this Anzac Day, consider also tipping your hat to the discovery of bacteriophages. In the post-antibiotic era, our health might just depend on them.

The Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, is marked by Chinese people by going to the cemetery to clean up tombs, bring flowers, and make offerings to their ancestors.
Jerome Favre/AAPApril 23, 2017

As Australians once found spiritual communion through allegiance to the British monarch, they find similar virtues in Anzac today. Can the republican movement connect with a large enough number of people in a similar way?

Five thousand Australian nurses served during World War Two. One of them, Dorothy Campbell endured air raids and tended wounded men in freezing tents - but the war opened her eyes to a more adventurous world.

Do the holes in the banner carried by these Vietnam veterans during an Anzac Day parade in Canberra make any difference?
AAP Image/Alan PorrittApril 24, 2016

Although more than 100,000 Australians have lost their lives as a result of war service, photographs of our dead have never been published in newspapers.Perhaps we should reconsider this.

Australian Navy, Army and Air Force personnel marched in record numbers at the 2015 Mardi Gras, led by senior Defence officers – a stark contrast to the way gay veterans were treated in the past.
Department of DefenceApril 23, 2015